Drop dead Fred, NCIS!
by Phoenix on cloud nine
Summary: After hearing some bad news from back home, Tony's childhood imaginary friend comes back to play... Gibbs/Tony Father/Son
1. Chapter 1

***Headslaps self* I know I'm in the middle of a story, but I really want to write this lol. And I also know that loads of people said they didn't think the story would be good, but given the chance, ya never know... Right? Right?  
*Tumbleweed*....  
Oh yeah, this is a crossover with an amazing film 'Drop Dead Fred' - watch the trailer on youtube or look it up on wikipedia or something if you've never heard of it :)**

"DiNozzo, what the _hell _do you think you're doing?" Tony jumped, engrossed in what he had been typing on the computer. Quickly closing the screen down, he gave a nervous grin to his Boss and replied,

"Nothing Boss, I'm just..." He got a glare and quickly said, "Getting right back to work and finding who owns a black Mercedes in the DC area that may have been used in a crime!" Gibbs gave a lop-sided grin, and went to his desk, sipping his coffee.

Breathing out slightly, Tony hesitantly brought the screen back up, and continued to type his letter. It wasn't often that he'd disobey Gibbs (Counting in his head he realised he'd never directly done it), but he _needed _to send this letter.

"Tony!" He hastily closed the screen down once more and looked up,

"Yeah Boss!"

"Abby's got something, come on." He nodded eagerly and jumped up. Any excuse to get out of desk work was fine with him. And to put off this letter a little while longer.

--

Abby greeted them with her customary hug and bounciness before starting,

"The blood on the victim was definitely all hers, apart from one drop, on her hand. It's almost like a calling card or something, a completely symmetrical drop in the middle of the palm..." She glanced across to Gibbs, wondering what he was making of it. He was too busy glaring at Tony, who was so far not paying attention whatsoever, and was biting his nails, in deep thought. To Abby, he looked like he was merely thinking, but Gibbs knew him too well,

"DiNozzo!" Tony looked up for the third time that morning hearing his name and widened his eyes into an innocent pose. Not fooled, Gibbs continued,

"What do you think?"

"Er... I think... that, y'know, given the victim's injuries and... blood spatters. She was... murdered, and..."

Abby winced as Gibbs gave him the hardest head-slap she'd heard in quite a long time,

"DiNozzo, you had better give me a better answer next time, or so help me your grand-children's heads will still be spinning." Tony rubbed the back of his head ruefully and held back tears. This shocked him, as he hadn't cried in years. He got slapped on the back of his head _every day _by Gibbs, and somehow this once seemed to hurt him more. Not physically - well, it _did _hurt more physically - but emotionally.

"I gotcha Boss." He replied mechanically, before scurrying after the older man, who had by this point kissed Abby on the forehead and strode out.

--

"Frickin' killer. Frickin' Director. Frickin' Gibbs. Frickin' McGee." Tony was angry. he was more than angry. He was positively livid. He'd spent the whole day taking crap from various people. He got it no end from Gibbs, and the Director had called him up twice to tell him that she had received complaints from various women in personnel about his 'actions'. If all that wasn't bad enough, they were still no closer to finding this killer than they were when they came in this morning. And McGee... well, McGee was just _there_. Forever finding things that both Tony and Ziva hadn't found. Getting 'Good Job's off Gibbs.

For once, just _once_ couldn't _he _get a 'Good job'?

Eventually, they'd just gone home. Ducky had practically prescribed for them to. He told them they could look at it from 'Fresh angles' in the morning if they were 'well rested'. So Tony had slammed his door shut in anger, and driven home in silence. Apart from the curses he threw around the car every couple of seconds.

And then - _just _to put the cherry on his shit cake, his Father's PA was standing in front of his door as he climbed the stairs in his apartment block. Grinding his teeth in anger, he approached the door wearily. He wasn't in the mood, even though Jeremy, the PA, had always been nice to him. Taking his key out of his pocket, Tony unlocked the door with a slight sigh.

He had to hand it to Jeremy though, he stayed silent, waiting until Tony was calmer and more comfortable before speaking. As soon as he had flopped onto his sofa, the PA spoke,

"Tony. How are you?" Tony shrugged and twitched his hand in a 'so-so' gesture. Jeremy grinned, "Same. Listen, I've come with... a bit of bad news." Tony cocked his head, his mood not changing. What could be worse? What could be _any _worse than now? He voiced his thoughts to Jeremy,

"Thanks Jeremy, but don't worry about upsetting me or anything. My day really can't much worse." Jeremy's eyes glistened with compassion,

"Normally I'd try and change the subject, talk about work, but I guess you need to hear this." Tony sighed and gestured to the sofa, allowing the PA to sit down,

"It can't be that bad. Remember how when I was younger, and if I ever did anything wrong, my father would beat me?" Jeremy winced at the malice in the younger man's tone, and the sarcasm that flared up in the conversation, as if he was implying someone could _actually _forget what happened in the DiNozzo house.

"I remember Tony," Jeremy replied softly, "You always blamed someone else though. Maybe that's why your dad got so het up." Tony snorted,

"Typical. Anyone on Dad's payroll is on his side. Not even Coral would belive that it wasn't me."

"No one else was there Tony," Jeremy said patiently, using the same argument he had several thousand times in the past, "You just didn't want to get into trouble." Tony ground his teeth angrily,

"But it _wasn't _me. You know it wasn't, it was..."

"I know, you had a name for him and everything, but you're not a kid anymore Tony," Jeremy interrupted, "You've got a whole new life now, so just forget about it." Tony glared - an all out Gibbs glare - and said,

"You had something to tell me." Jeremy nodded and picked up a box that he had dumped on the floor as they entered the apartment,

"Coral's quarters were cleaned out today, and they found some stuff that was yours. Your dad said to burn it, but I thought you might want some of it." Tony almost smiled, before asking, quietly,

"Why were Coral's quaters cleaned out?" Jeremy's eyes dulled slightly, and whispered,

"She died Tony. Last week. She had a stroke while she was cleaning. It happened quickly."

_As if that makes it all ok, _Tony thought angrily, his emotions threatening to bubble over. Coral had been the DiNozzo's live-in Nanny and maid. She'd looked after Tony his entired childhood. She was the one who witnessed his first steps, heard his first words and attended all of his soccer games. When his father had disowned him, she'd stayed to clean, wanting to visit Tony often, but never getting the time off. Not when she told her Boss where she was going.

Jeremy patted his back and said,

"I'll leave you alone now. Hope life treats you well." With that he back out the apartment, as Tony tried to clear his thoughts. Coral had been with him through it all. She'd kissed his knee when he fell off a swing, and carefully bandaged his hands when his Dad punished him. She'd been a 'no nonsense' kind of person, but had been remarkably understanding about...

Tony shook his head. Jeremy was right, he should just forget about it. However, he couldn't think about one without thinking of the other. Whenever he was with Coral, _he _was there too. Whether it was at the park, at school on parent's night or at home. His eyes widened slightly as he looked into the box Jeremy had left. _Would it still be there?_

Delving in deeply, Tony came out with several cards he'd made for her on various holidays, an old cap, a tiny remote control car, a small teddy and an old jack-in-the-box.

_That _was the cause of all his suffering at home. If _he _hadn't have ben so... overwhelming. So... crazy. So... everything. Everything Tony had aspired to be. Feeling a jolt in his stomach, he realised he almost missed those old times. The adrenaline that came just after the incident, when - for one second - he hadn't thought about the consequences. Because _Fred _had always been there to share the excitement.

With shaking hands, he slowly started to take off the tape that sealed the box. Would he still be in there, after all these years? With a beating heart, he finally undid the tape. To his disappointment (Or relief, he didn't know) the box stayed closed.

Putting the box down, he realised just how tired he was. After repressing the grief he was feeling, he'd forgotten what time it was, and how early he had to be up in the morning. Dragging his body to his bedroom, his shoulders finally fell. Here was his sanctuary, as it had been for all his life. Here he could finally let his emotions out.

This was one of those rare times Tony DiNozzo cried himself to sleep.

--

It was early. Too early for Tony. He groaned as he reached for the lamp by his bed. His internal clock was telling him it was probably time to wake up. Sliding out of bed, he went to go have a shower, when a sudden noise stopped him.

It was almost a... trunkle. Tony laughed at his made-up word, but decided it was as a good a word as any for the noise. The trunkle continued, and he realised that it was coming from the living room.

Drawing his gun, he crept to the door, cautiously pulling it open and stepping into the room. He raised an eyebrow and looked around. There was absolutely nothing there. Until...

Another trunkle sound. It almost sounded like... _a jack-in-the-box_? Which was silly, Tony thought, his heart beating faster than normal, 'cause they can't be spun open on their own, the handle needs to be turned...

There was a sudden crash, causing Tony to jump in shock and almost shoot blindly into the room. Instead, he ducked down behind his sofa, only resurfacing when he heard the dreaded words...

"Hello snotface!! Yuk! What happened to you? Look at you, you're all older, you're even uglier!" Tony dropped his gun, as he stared at his childhood imaginary friend.

Drop Dead Fred.

**Oooh, dramatic. Lol, review? Just to say, it's probably gonna be way different from the film. I'm more taking a character from a film. That's it. Thanks for reading so far though :) xx**


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks for all the reviews :) Here's the next part :)  
This is a crossover with an amazing film 'Drop Dead Fred' - watch the trailer on youtube or look it up on wikipedia or something if you've never heard of it :)**

Tony gaped at the man in front of him. He was rather thin, and of medium height, wearing a bright green suit with yellow trousers. He had ice blue eyes (Like Gibbs' Tony thought suddenly) and bright ginger hair. He closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to get rid of it. Instead, when he opened his eyes, the man was yelling at the top of his voice,

"Where are we? This definitely isn't a room in the Dragon's house!" Tony closed his eyes again. This was what both he and Fred had referred to his Father as (Only when he'd been out of earshot).

_I'm dreaming, _Tony thought wildly, _It's just the influence of Coral's death, I just dreamt him up again,_

"I don't live there anymore Fred," He said softly, "I grew up, moved out. I've got a job and everything." He didn't know why he was even going along with this. Ok, last night he'd admitted he missed Fred. But only _sometimes_, when he was really lonely, or fed up. Even back when he was a kid - and he had only been about 5 or 6 - Fred would always cheer him up. Even if it hadn't been very... legal.

Fred looked him up and down in disgust,

"Eurgh, how boring. You're nothing but a boring boring boring _grown-up _who won't even..." He paused, spying what Tony had dropped on the floor, "Brilliant! You've got a gun! At least _one _good thing came out of you growing up," He said the last two words with disdain, "We can smash grown-up things!" Tony moaned as Fred picked up the gun excitedly,

"Look, we can break anything with this!" He declared, and pointed it at one of the counters in the kitchen. Tony's eyes widened as Fred suddenly pulled the trigger, a horrible cracking sound coming from the kitchen, as his counter fell apart.

"Fred, stop it! Look, I don't know why I've suddenly imagined you up again, but..." He froze, hearing a knock at the door,

"Tony?" He closed his eyes, breathing out slowly. His neighbour, a rather frail old lady called Mrs Kelly had obviously heard the shot, "Tony? Is everything ok?" Tony thought wildly, before turning to Fred, who by this point was ransacking the box Jeremy had left,

"Fred, Fred, I've got an idea," He said desperately, trying to get his invisible friend's attention, "How about we play a game? Like back in the old days?" Fred looked at him gleefully,

"That's more like it! How about Cops and Robbers?" He waved the gun around, which Tony hastily snatched back,

"No, I've got a better game... what about hide and seek?"

"Brilliant! That's my favourite game! Right, I'll go first! You count to a million and I'll go hide!" He darted off and Tony put his hands to his forehead, knuckling it wearily. He must be going crazy. Kids had imaginary friends, not adults. It wasn't even that Tony particularly hated Fred, he was his best friend - _sometimes_ - it was why he chose now to enter the agent's life. Tony had had a theory that Fred had only ever played with him because he was unhappy at home. And now suddenly, he was back again.

Shaking his head, Tony went to finally have that shower, glancing around in case Fred was there. Nothing. It did seem to be that he had hidden where no one could find him.

_Which is just as well, _Tony thought.

--

However, as soon as he was dressed, and having a quick drink before he went out, he saw Fred, flinging things out of the box Jeremy had dropped off in frustration,

"I thought you were hiding?" Tony asked weakly, glancing at the clock. Gibbs was going to kill him,

"Yes, but you just went in the shower, I was stuck hiding under your bed for _ages._ And now I'm finding something else to do, 'cause you're _so boring!_" He teased, like a child - which he was, in so many ways. It was like he had the personality of one, having been the imaginary friend of kids for ages.

"Hey, where's the fire truck? And the dinosaurs? Oh, great! You've still got Mr Bear!" Fred pulled out the old teddy in delight, before ripping his head off, and saying in a high voice, "Oh no Fred, you've killed me! Argh!!" He made a choking sound before sighing and standing up, saying,

"I'm bored, let's _do _something Snotface!"

"I never really got why you called me that." Tony answered. In a flash, Fred stuck a finger up his nose, before wiping whatever was on there on Tony's cheek. Crying out in disgust, Tony wiped his face hurriedly, freezing when he heard a loud thump at his door,

"DiNozzo! Hey, Tony, open the door!"

"It's Gibbs," He said to Fred, "My Boss."

"Does he have a gun too?" Fred asked excitedly, hurrying to open the door,

"Wait, Fred, stop a second!" Tony hissed, hurrying forward, but the door was opened. Gibbs stood outside, one hand poised near his weapon, the other raised to knock again.

"Hey Boss." Tony said meekly, before hissing from the corner of his mouth, "_Piss off_ Fred!" He glanced back to his Boss, who was staring at him,

"Er, sorry I'm late, I just had to ah... had to..."

"Eurgh, look at this old man, he's nearly older than the dragon! Hey, go away! Back to oldtown, in old country!" Fred laughed at his wit, as Tony made an odd strangled sound, his eyes flicking over to where his imaginary friend was prodding at Gibbs' face, running his fingers down the wrinkles,

"DiNozzo, you ok?" Tony tore his eyes away, and asked, quietly,

"You don't see him?" Gibbs raised and eyebrow,

"Who?" Tony shook his head, and grabbed his jacket, but not before McGee appeared at the door,

"Is everything ok Boss?" he asked, causing Fred to look at him in disgust,

"Eurgh, who's this Mummy's boy? Nothing but a namby pamby little girl!" Tony snorted as Fred continued to throw more juvenile insults at McGee, who was obviously oblivious,

"What?" He asked, as Tony started to laugh in the silent room, "What's so funny?" At once Tony stopped laughing, motioning into thin air before realising he was the only one who could see or hear Fred, exactly like when he was small. He put his arm down and asked, trying to keep a straight face as Fred mimed mooning McGee,

"Why would everything not be ok Probie?"

"We got a call from a Mrs Kelly," Gibbs said, "She said she heard a gunshot from your apartment, and you wouldn't answer the door." Tony groaned. Of course his neighbour would call Gibbs, there had probably been all sorts of noises from his apartment. She would probably also have heard a once-sided argument between him and Fred,

"Er... yeah, I accidently shot my kitchen counter." Gibbs glared at him,

"I wasn't born yesterday DiNozzo..."

"Obviously," Fred said, "Look at your old man hair..."

"So tell me what really happened. I know you wouldn't shoot your furniture on purpose." Tony only managed to hear the last half of this, as Fred had so rudely interrupted, but grumbled,

"You honestly wouldn't believe me if I told you," He saw the looks he had gotten off his workmates and sighed, "Can we go now?"

Maybe he could trap Fred in his apartment. He knew he wouldn't be able to _not _yell at him when they were at work, and they'd probably cart him off to the asylum straight away. However, when Gibbs had finally nodded and walked out, worrying about his agent's state of mind Fred followed, and said to him, while he locked the door,

"He's a bit angry isn't he? He's almost like the dragon!" Tony snarled and turned to face him,

"He is _nothing_ like my father. You got that? He treats me way better than my father _ever _did!"

"Oooh, what got your knickers in a girly twist? Where do you work anyway?" He asked, as Tony slowly descended the stairs to where Gibbs and McGee were waiting,

"NCIS, it stands for... wait, what does it even matter? You're not real! You stopped being real when..." He tailed off, not wanting to remember, "I'm a fed." He stated, and winced as Fred yelled excitedly,

"That's brilliant! You're like Magnum! Do you get all the girls?"

"Pretty much." Tony boasted smugly, smiling. He suddenly remembered something and stopped half-way on the stairs, "Listen Fred, I need you to behave at NCIS, if you do something bad... Gibbs'll shoot you. Then me."

"I will if you don't get your butt down here now!" Gibbs yelled, causing Tony to blush. Had Gibbs heard him talking to Fred?

"On your six Boss!" He yelled, after a warning glance to Fred.

--

"I'm squashed, move up a bit." Fred complained, as they were sat in the car. Tony had managed to get the front seat, causing McGee to sit in the back,

"Snotface! Snotface!!" Tony tried to ignore him, staring determindely at the road (Which was quite hard, as Gibbs was driving), "Tony!" He finally snapped, and whipped round,

"What?!" He yelled, making McGee shuffle uncomfortabley, as he noted that Tony was yelling to the empty seat next to him,

"Girly boy here won't move up, he's squashing me with his fat arse!" Tony snorted, and said,

"McGee, move up, he does need to breathe."

"What?" McGee asked, completely bewildered. Tony almost clapped a hand to his mouth. Fred just seemed so real, just like when he was small, that he just forgot that no one else could see or hear him. Fred stuck his thumbs up in thanks to Tony, before jumping up and saying,

"What does this stick do?" He reached his hand out to pull the gear stick, before Tony leapt across, grabbing it and holding it in position before his invisible friend could do anything,

"DiNozzo! What are you doing?" Tony looked up slowly, still clutching the stick. He gave a small, cheeky smile and replied,

"Would you believe me if I said I could see dead people, and one of them was going to touch the gear stick?" He got a head slap, and suddenly Fred had pulled the stick down. He yelled 'Fred!' just as Gibs yelled 'Tony!', and was jerked forward as Gibbs braked. They were thankfully now at NCIS, but Gibbs snarled,

"What the hell did you do that for?"

"It wasn't me!" He cried out in protest, "It was..." He laughed bitterly, "It was my invisible friend."

Gibbs stared at him and said,

"You answer back like that one more time and I swear you're going to be cleaning the agency toilets faster than you can say 'Demotion'. Got it?" Tony nodded and quickly wrenched his door open. Gibbs merely stared after him, sure he could see the young man having an argument with no one.

**It'll get more exciting soon, promise ^^ Review? xx**


	3. Chapter 3

**So, this story's getting back on track :) And I just want to say thank you, as my story 'Sweet Lullaby' was nominated for the NCIS fanfic awards 2009 :) Thanks for all the reviews for the last chapter btw :)  
Also, some of the things that happen in the chapter would never happen in real life. I think you'll know which ones I mean, but just picture them as a kind of 'Who framed Rodger Rabbit' moment :P**

Tony stormed into the building, trying _so _hard to block Fred out, but it was impossible, especially when he was bouncing around him, talking at the top of his voice about nothing in particular. Finally, Tony snapped and switched the emergency stop button in the elevator.

"Right," He snarled, "I don't _why _you've chosen now of all times to come back into my life, 'cause I really don't need this right now! Firstly I get nothing but crap all day off various people in this agency, _then_ I get the news that Coral died! Why did you come now? To just laugh at how screwed up my life has gotten?!" He was breathing hard, and didn't notice that Fred had glanced down anxiously, as if scared of saying something,

"Coral died?" He questioned, looking alomst as heartbroken as Tony felt, "But she was great... she never shouted at us, or hit us..." Tony barked out a harsh laugh,

"What d'you mean _us _Fred? No one believed me about you, it was always just _me _that was yelled at, _always_. Ok, maybe expecting my father to understand was a bit out of the question, but Coral. She was supposed to love me!"

"So was your father," Fred pointed out softly, "And look at what he did." Tony groaned, and rested his head against the elevator walls,

"So tell me Fred," He said, in a sarcastically cheerful voice, "_Why _are you here?" He'd slid down to the floor at this point, and glanced up as Fred slid down to join him, wrapping his arms around those bright yellow trousers,

"Well you're all mopey about Coral aren't you? You need a parent figure in your life, so _I'm _here to help." Tony snorted deverishly,

"Really?" He asked, "When have you _ever _helped me?" Fred looked offended, before standing back up and bouncing around on the balls of his feet,

"_Loads _of times! I've always helped you!"

"Name one time."

"All the time!"

"Have not."

"Have too!"

"Have not!"

"Have too!"

"Have not, have not, have not, have not!" Tony chanted back childishly, grinning as Fred got increasingly angry, letting his frustration out on the floor of the elevator, jumping up and down - looking for all the world like a child having a tantrum.

"Fine, doesn't matter, I hate you!" Fred shouted. He kicked the sitting man on the leg, causing him to cry out in pain, before yelling, "I hope you die horribly!" Tony almost laughed, before Fred pulled the doors of the elevator open, and jumped out yelling, "You'll never see me again!" Tony wasn't sure whether or not to be concerned. On the one hand - Fred was imaginary, so there was no danger of him dying or even getting hurt. On the other hand - he was so _real_. Tony wasn't stupid, he knew Fred wasn't _really _real, but sometimes, the way they interacted...

While he was pondering, Fred had jumped out of the elevator. Not hearing a 'Bang' at the bottom, Tony relaxed slightly. However much he hated Fred sometimes, he didn't want him _dead_. Even though they'd just had a fight over whenever Fred 'helped' him, Tony found himself floating back in his memories, remembering one time when he was about 4...

**--Flashback--**

_"Tony! Tony!" Four year old Anthony DiNozzo woke up slightly, rubbing his eyes and mumbling something before rolling over, attempting to go back to sleep. Fred pulled his hair. Hard,_

_"Snotface, wake up!" Tony sat up, tousling his hair and yawning,_

_"What?" Fred grinned at him, wearing what Tony suspected were his pyjamas, a light green jumper with stripes on it, and some weird lemon coloured leggings,_

_"How would you like to play burglars?" Tony grinned happily and bounced up out of bed,_

_"Real burglars?"_

_"Real burglars," Fred promised, "Look, I made your sweater stripey!" He handed Tony a red sweater that had clearly had oil painted down it in stripes. Tony was oblivious to the mess as he hastily shrugged it on, grinning happily,_

_"What do we do?"_

_"Follow me." Fred answered confidently, tip-toeing past Tony's father's bedroom, motioning for Tony to follow. They soon arrived in the kitchen, ducking behind a counter as the chef finally hung up her apron for the night and, yawning, left the room, turning the lights off as she went. Fred crept towards the bin and opened it,_

_"Perfect," He grinned at Tony, who was watching with excitement, "This will make a **perfect **bag for all the swag we get!" Tony nodded and went to help Fred take the bag out of it and tip the rubbish on the floor, leaving them with an empty bag._

_"Now for the final touches," Fred said to him, "Grab the flour tub!" Tony did so, and passed it to Fred, who started to pour it on the floor. Tony cocked his head in confusion,_

_"What're we doing this for?"_

_"Clues," Fred answered simply, before grinning, "Let's go burglarising." Tony followed Fred around the cold, dark mansion, grabbing peices of silver and gold, anything that looked remotely expensive._

_"What should we steal next?" Fred pondered, deliberating between an ivory model of an elephant and a diamond ring on the fireplace. Tony spied an antique phone resting on a table near them and chirped,_

_"How about the telephone?!" Fred's eyes twinkled as Tony picked it up and showed it to him. _

_"Brilliant! Stick it in!" Tony hooked his tiny fist around it and said,_

_"Now this is **very **expensive..."_

_"Then we'd better be **extra**careful." Fred agreed, before beaming in delight as Tony merely threw it in the bag, not realising the huge crashes as they did this were attracting attention. One of Tony's Father's bodyguards was sneaking round the corner, flanked by DiNozzo Sr himself,_

_"Get them!" He hissed in outrage, but soon ground his teeth together as the guard flicked the lightswitch on, realizing this burglar was quite shorter than normal ones. DiNozzo Sr glared down at his only son, who was happily talking to himself, whilst throwing valuable items into a bin bag. His eyes widened even more when he saw the boy's sweater was covered in oil._

_"Anthony!" He yelled angrily, sounding like he was about to choke. The guard winced, knowing what would happen after this little episode. Tony dropped the bag in shock, while Fred shook his shoulder and hastily whispered,_

_"I'll take the rap; I'm no chicken. Just tell them, 'Drop Dead Fred did it'." Tony nodded and stuttered out, seeing his father walk menacingly towards them,_

_"D-Drop Dead... Drop Dead Fred did it..." He gulped, making it sound more like a question than a statement. He felt Fred pat him on the back, having his six, before DiNozzo Sr reached them and held up his hand, before everything went black._

_A few hours later he awoke to find himself back in his bed, a bandage around his hand and Fred sitting at the end of the bed, looking at him with worry,_

_"I'm sorry..." Tony murmured, glancing down at the bedcovers,_

_"What d'you mean you're sorry? You did great!"_

_"I did?" He asked, looking up, tears in his eyes as he surveyed the bandages over various parts of his body, before deciding Fred must have been lying, "No I didn't, I didn't say it right, I told them it was you and they didn't believe me, so I must have said it wrong... Father's right, I'm useless..."_

_"Hey! You were brilliant! You're not useless at all! What you did was really good! I don't know anyone else who'd be able to stand up to that beating you got for as long as you did! But as for the dragon," Fred paused, bundling the small boy into his arms and giving him a small hug, "He's completely stupid. You're amazing, you could do anything you wanted when you're older! Don't let anyone tell you different..."_

**--End Flashback--**

"Tony?" The agent glanced up and jumped. Someone must have seen the elevator had stopped and called maintenance. Since Tony was sat on the floor of it when the doors finally opened, lost in his thoughts; people were bound to think something was wrong.

Gibbs stood in front of him, eyebrow raised,

"You ok?" He asked gently, holding out a hand to help him up. Tony smiled wanly and took it, being heaved to his feet just as Fred popped up behind Gibbs' shoulder, making Tony jump in shock,

"Eurgh, is _this _the one who you see as a parent? At least the dragon was young. Well, young-ish," He saw Tony glaring at him and said, "You want me to go? Fine, just say the magic words and I'll go. All you need to do is tell me to 'Piss off'."

"Piss off!" Tony snarled, getting a head-slap off his Boss,

"Haha! Got you! They weren't the magic words!" Fred gloated.

"What did you say?" Gibbs asked, disapproval and mild curiosity abundant in his eyes.

Tony faltered, "I said.. I said 'Piss off', but I didn't say it to you..."

"That right DiNozzo? How come there's no one else here?" Tony glanced in each direction. There were people on the floor, and at their desks, but when they saw Tony had gotten to his feet they had left the sight of the elevator, so the only person in hearing range was Gibbs.

"Err... I'm going to go to the head..." He fled, and was soon stood in front of a mirror in the bathroom, splashing water on his face,

"C'mon DiNozzo, pull yourself together... It's not real..." He muttered, but groaned and closed his eyes as Fred wandered in and cocked a thumb to the door,

"He's a bit scary isn't he?" He remarked, referring to Gibbs, "I don't care what you say, he is a bit like the dragon."

"How'd you work that out?" Tony asked tiredly, resting against the sinks with his eyes still closed. He was shattered,

"Well he's always yelling at you isn't he? And he hit you," Fred scowled in disapproval, making Tony smile slightly at the protective tone in his friend's voice, "_And _he doesn't call you by your actual name. He always calls you 'DiNozzo', never Tony. Like your Dad, he never called you by your name, always 'Anthony' or 'Boy'." He left Tony to mull this over, and leant against the taps as well.

Was it all true? The more he thought about what Fred had said, the more Tony thought he was right. True, Gibbs did call him 'DiNozzo' way more than he called him 'Tony', but he wasn't exactly asking everyone to call him 'Jethro', was he? And the head-slaps were strictly for keeping him in line. Fred had made him believe when he was small that he didn't deserve what he got from his Father, but with Gibbs he actually felt he'd deserved it. But wasn't that how he felt after every beating his Father gave him?

The door of the bathroom suddenly opened, and Tony span round, seeing Gibbs stood in the doorway,

"It's true isn't it?" Fred asked, seeing the sudden look of nervousness on Tony's face, "He's just like your father." Tony shook his head, tears building in his eyes. Could he trust no one?

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs questioned, carefully stepping into the room, trying not to be too tactless, "What is it?" There it was, 'DiNozzo'. Before he knew it, he was running out of the room, blinking wildly as he shoved past Gibbs, making it into the safety of the corridor. He needed somewhere to go. Where could he go that would be safe?

The lab. Abby would help him, she'd set it straight. Without thinking, he ran right through the bullpen, ignoring Ziva's surprised cry of, "What's wrong Tony?" and McGee confused face. All he really felt was Fred's steps behind him, as though he was the only real thing there. Maybe he'd been drugged? And this was all just some weird hallucination, making him think things that weren't real, messing with his head. Maybe he should ask Abby to test his urine? He ran down the stairs rather than waiting for the lift, and finally drew into the lab, catching his breath just as Abby herself walked through the doors.

She raised an eyebrow,

"Tony? What's wrong?" He glanced around guiltily for a moment and whispered, seeing his chance as Fred was (For some reason) not there,

"I need you to do a tox screen on a urine sample." She blinked, wondering why he looked so shifty, but nodded and replied,

"Sure, whose? I didn't know we had a case at the moment."

"We don't. I mean... I found... I mean - I need you to test my urine to see if I've been drugged." He said quickly. Abby's face was a range of expressions at that point, before it finally landed on 'concerned but curious',

"Oh poor baby! Sit down, did Gibbs tell you to come down?" Tony hastily shook his head,

"Don't tell him!" Abby seemed to know there was something up,

"Why? What've you done?" Tony sighed, and looked up at Abby with mournful eyes,

"I'm seeing something, like a hallucination. It keeps telling me it's here because Coral, my nanny when I was small, died a few days ago, and I'm looking for a parental figure." Abby nodded,

"Gibbs?" Tony shifted uncomfortably, before carrying on, leaving her question unanswered,

"But then he just keeps telling me that Gibbs is exactly like my father, and I don't really know what to believe anymore..." He tailed off, sounding small and lost. Abby squeezed his hand sympathetically and said,

"Let's do one thing at a time. What kind of a hallucination is it?" Tony glanced up before saying,

"You're gonna think I'm crazy, but it's the imaginary friend I had when I was small. Drop Dead Fred his name was. And he's back. I don't know what to do, he's so _real_, but I know he can't be, right?" Abby looked astonished, before bouncing up and down happily,

"This is so cool! Is Fred here now?" Tony shook his head, only thinking that she could have been a little bit more helpful, "Oh," She looked rather downcast, before becoming more upbeat and continuing,

"Well, I'll test your urine, but if it _is_ positive, you have to tell Gibbs."

"I promise." Tony swore, suddenly aware of his arm being lifted and wiggled a bit, before it found Abby's arm and gave her a pinkie swear. He turned and scowled, seeing Fred stood there,

"You have to pinky swear whenever you promise Snotface! We always used to!"

"You're not real!" Tony snapped, scaring Abby who was at one point sat in a quiet room, before Tony suddenly started yelling into the air, "You were never real, I never..."

"Tony!" Abby yelled, placing a calming hand on his arm, "Relax," She commanded him, "So Fred's here?" She looked around, "I can't see anyone." She pouted, sounding disappointed.

"Abbs, he's a frickin' hallucination!" She shrugged and said,

"Hey, loads of kids have imaginary friends."

"Yeah Abby, _kids_. Not adults. Listen," He paused, hearing Gibbs' footsteps echoing down the corridor, "I'm gonna go. _Please_don't tell Gibbs I was here, ok?" With that he was off, running as fast as he could in the direction that their Boss wasn't coming in. Abby heard him yelling for Fred to hurry up, and frowned. Was her friends going mad? Or had he actually been drugged? Unfortunately, when Gibbs came into the lab, he just saw Tony's elbow around another corridor, and quickened his pace - determined to get to the bottom of his senior agent's behaviour,

"Abbs," He said, as soon as he was in there, "What's with DiNozzo?" He saw her falter, before saying, "You had better tell me Abby, or I swear to God you won't see another Caf-Pow as long as you live."

Abby bit her lip.

**It's slow, and I still class it as a work in progress lol, but review? Please? xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks for all the reviews ^^ Here's... *Drumroll*... chapter 4 :D**

"That's not nice Gibbs, you shouldn't shut off my caffeine provider. You wouldn't like it if Starbucks shut down." Abby said, correctly but unwisely. Gibbs growled, even though he was usually incredibly nice to the lab tech, he wasn't in the mood, and said as much,

"Abby, I'm in _no mood_, you got me? I just want to know what the hell is with DiNozzo. You know, so _spill._" Abby gave a small pout, like a child ordered to say where their fantastic hiding place in 'Hide-and-seek' was.

"Gibbs, have you never heard of 'Patient-Doctor Confidentiality'?" Abby tried in vain, before getting a small tap on her chin and a quiet voice sighing,

"You aren't a doctor Abbs." Abby looked up, scared by the defeat in Gibbs's voice. He was obviously desperate to know why his Senior Field Agent was acting like he was, and Abby could tell how concerned he was. One more glance from the ice blue eyes made her fold,

"Okay fine, but you're the one to tell him I told you." Gibbs merely raised an eyebrow, allowing Abby to smile slightly and proclaim,

"He has an invisible friend."

"Abbs..." Gibbs growled, "I'm losing my patience..." She widened her eyes at him and gave him a puppy dog expression that softened him - it worked every time,

"I'm serious Gibbs," She continued, "He came and told me he wanted his urine checked out..."

"He's been drugged?" Gibbs all but yelped out, causing Abby to grin at the protectiveness,

"He thinks. I don't think he really knows. He said he's having a hallucination, but from what he's told me, it's almost too consistent to be one solid hallucination."

"So from that you think he has an imaginary friend." Gibbs summised, his voice heavy with sarcasm. Abby shook her head, her pig-tails bobbing at each movement,

"He said that what he was seeing was his old imaginary friend, from when he was a kid." Gibbs smiled fondly. The thought of DiNozzo running around the place talking to himself just seemed _right_ to him. Out of all of his agents he would have picked Tony (And maybe Abby) to have had an imaginary friend when they were younger.

"But I'm worried about him Gibbs," Abby continued, "If he hasn't been drugged, I think it's stemming from the fact that his child-hood nanny died - he only found out yesterday," She paused, seeing Gibbs's expression, "He didn't tell you?" She asked, wondering why. Gibb simply shook his head, and motioned for her to carry on,

"So, I thought it could be from that, but he sounded almost _scared _Gibbs. He said it was telling him that it was only here because Tony was searching for a parental figure in his life," She wondered whether Gibbs would say anything at this, but he either wouldn't or didn't know what she was hinting at heavily, "And he's also confused, he said that Fred said..."

"Fred?" Gibbs questioned, interrupting,

"That's what he calls it - _him_. Apparently his name is 'Drop Dead Fred'." Gibbs furrowed his eyebrows. He remembered that Kelly had once told him she had an imaginary friend, a girl in her wardrobe with a pet fairy. The girl was supposedly called Jemima, whilst the fairy was called Holly. The name 'Drop Dead Fred' seemed strange. He knew if Kelly had said that was _her _imaginary friend's name he'd have considered going to see a psychiatrist.

"Pretty cool huh?" Abby grinned, before saying, "That's as far as we got, before he heard you coming and ran off, shouting for Fred to hurry up," She bit her lip, wondering what Gibbs would make of it all, "I know it's strange," She added, in a bid to help her friend, "But the tests haven't come back yet. He could have actually been drugged." Gibbs gave her a hard stare,

"And if he hasn't?" He asked her. She shrugged but said,

"We could publish it in some kind of psychology magazine. We'd get quite a lot of money." Gibbs rolled his eyes and said,

"Before you told me what 'Fred's' name was," Gibbs used his fingers to make small air quotes, "You said that Tony said he'd said something..." He tailed off, confused by his own sentance. Abby had no trouble understanding, an expert at gossiping,

"That's right! Apparently he'd been trying to convince Tony that you're like his Father."

"Why did I come up in the conversation?" Gibbs asked, confused. Abby twirled one of her pig-tails with her finger before answering, rather softly,

"You must know by now that he sees you as a kind of father figure, right Gibbs?" He didn't answer, instead opting to ask a question of his own,

"How am I like his Father?" Abby's eyes widened, knowing how bad DiNozzo Sr had been

"Not all Gibbs! You care about Tony, you don't beat him or belittle him, you don't..."

"I give him head slaps," Gibbs said to her softly, "That's a form of beating."

"_That _is to reign him back in and you know it," Abby said firmly, before shooing him away, saying ,"When I know about the tests, _you'll_ know about the tests." Gibbs just nodded, lost in his thoughts as he walked out the lab, pausing for a second when he heard Abby shout,

"Don't tell Tony I told you!"

--

"Tony, what are you looking at?" Ziva demanded, glancing over her shoulder every now and then, furrowing her eyebrows as she couldn't find what Tony thought was so enthralling. He had been staring at the same spot for about three minutes now, a shocked yet amused look on his face. Unbeknownst to her, he was staring at his imaginary friend; who was sat right next to the Mossad Agent, stroking her hair and wondering out loud how it would look in plaits.

In an attempt to to get Fred away before Ziva killed him (It hadn't quite sunk in yet that he wasn't real) Tony whispered,

"Girl." It worked an in an instant Fred was sat cross-legged next to Tony's desk,

"For your information, I was wondering if we could somehow take her head off by putting it in plaits." Fred said, in a voice that clearly showed he thought he was smart.

"You are a bit of a girl." Tony muttered, staring at his computer screen as Fred was about to say something, before,

"What did you say?" Tony glanced up to see Ziva glaring at him, thinking he'd called her a 'Girl'.

"Er... Ziva, I didn't... er..." She'd stood up by this point, and wandered round to his desk, causing Fred to do a forwards roll so he wasn't trampled. She started to take his tie in her hands and twist it round slowly, in an almost seductive fashion,

"You know Tony," She begun, continuing to twirl the tie around her slender fingers, "In my country, it is a great insult if you call a woman a girl. It's almost like saying she is incompetent, and that she is clearly not ready to start her career..." She was talking quietly enough, but Fred heard, making Tony groan out loud as he yelled,

"She's a bit full of herself isn't she? How about we put her down a peg or two..." His eyes glittered with malice, and reached toward her hair, just as Tony yelled,

"Fred, stop it!" The imaginary friend yanked at the hair. Hard. Ziva immediately grabbed Tony's wrist and pulled him into a head lock, before getting him on the floor in a single, fluid motion. Resting her arm against his throat, she whispered, strands of her hair tickling his face,

"Next time you do that, I won't hold back. Just be lucky I didn't have my weapon on me." Tony nodded hurriedly, his eyes bulging as he realised he couldn't breathe. Trying to tell her what happened, he managed to croak out,

"It... me... Fred... I..." She just rolled her eyes but slowly stood up, letting the arm over his neck be the last limb to move.

"Nice technique Ziva but next time you'd better have a good reason." Both agents looked up (Well Tony looked up, Ziva looked over) to see Gibbs stood there, a hint of anger in his voice as he said it.

"He pulled my hair." Ziva told him, cringing as she knew she sounded like a little girl in the playground telling a teacher what had happened. Gibbs raised an eyebrow and retorted,

"I know it seems like DiNozzo has a death wish Ziva, but I doubt he'd do that." Tony grinned victoriously up at Ziva, until he got a kick in his side from her. Looking to Gibbs for assistance, the older man said,

"You deserved that. Stand up Tony, we've got a..." He paused, the phone on his desk starting to ring. Tony pushed himself up from where he'd been lying on the floor, rubbing at his neck and trying to regulate his breathing. He scowled at Ziva, who gave him a filthy look back. Why did she blame him for what Fred did? Okay, he knew she couldn't see Fred and Tony _had _reached for her hair the same time Fred had, but still, he couldn't help feeling quite betrayed...

"Okay Abbs, thanks..." Gibbs put the phone down, glancing at Tony with a slightly odd look on his face. He'd just been told by Abby that the results came back negative. Tony hadn't been drugged at all, so now Abby was spouting out all these different types of weird 'facts', such as the part of the brain that comes up with imaginary friends and so on.

"Gibbs?" He glanced over to Ziva, who said,

"The Director wanted to see you in MTAC." He nodded but left his gaze on Tony for a moment longer, who by this point was stood up but was now... Hell was the kid _talking _to himself? Gibbs just shook his head, and walked off, hearing as he swept past Tony,

"...Fred, if you think I'm going to pour water on Ziva you've got another thing coming. That's like spilling Gibbs's coffee." _Damn straight, _Gibbs thought. He shook his head as he thought that. Why the hell was acting as though this was normal?

--

Ziva had left the bullpen, in need of fresh air, and Tony guessed McGee was down with Abby. He wasn't lonely however, as Fred wouldn't stop annoying him. The ginger man had danced up and down the office, getting frustrated when Tony didn't rise to any of the goading comments he used.

"Fred, tell you what," Tony said, finally looking him in the eyes, "If you can somehow completely _wreck _the office - I'll consider the fact that you might be real." Fred grinned,

"Now we're talking!" He yelled enthusiastically, before immediately pushing McGee's monitor to the floor. Tony gave a small squeak as the crash brought every other agent's gaze over to their office. He hadn't thought it would actually happen. And he had no idea what to do. He could just sit there and go mad, tell everyone it wasn't him, like he had all those years ago, and no one had believed him then either. All he got for his trouble was a beating...

"ANTHONY DINOZZO!" Tony jumped and looked around to see Gibbs staring wide eyed around the room. Tony himself glanced around and his mouth fell open. Fred had really gone to town on this. Paper strewn everywhere, computers broken, the plasma had a huge crack down it... The coffee Gibbs had left on the desk was tipped onto the floor. Thousands of dollars worth of equipment was on the floor and broken, and the obvious culprit was sat there.

"What - the -hell..." Was all Gibbs could get out. Just at that moment, Abby bounded out of the lift,

"Hi guys!" She said happily, "What's happened?" She asked, surveying the damage. Tony was the only one still able to say something, which wasn't _too_ different from normal anyway. He managed to croak,

"It was... _him _Abbs. I told him I'd only believe he's here if he... smashed everything." Abby gazed around. Ok, she believed in quite a few things, and her belief could stretch to imaginary friends, even adult's imaginary friends, but this?

"Tony, I don't... there's no one here..." She said it gently, trying not to make him angry, and was shocked to see his eyes were filled with tears. Abby looked over at Gibbs, who was breathing in and out deeply. He had heard their small conversation and wanted to hit his head several times off walls. His agent clearly needed help. Not only did he think he had an invisible friend, but he had suddenly smashed an entire office, as if recreating the havoc he pinned on 'Fred'.

"DiNozzo," He said, finally finding his voice, "Home. With me. Now."

**Hopefully quite a bit of caring Gibbs in the next chapter :) Review? xx**


	5. Chapter 5

**Thanks for all the reviews ^^ Hope ya like Chappie numero 5 :D Hopefully I'll be able to update more of my stories soon, only 6 more exams to go 0.o**

Tony gave a fifteenth involuntary twitch (He found it scarily easy to keep count) as Gibbs rounded yet another corner going about 70 mph. The younger man knew he was the cause of Gibbs's angst, and he had no idea how to solve it. He wasn't even sure how much Gibbs _knew _about Fred. Maybe he was just angry because he thought Tony had destroyed the whole office? But then why bring him home?

At this point Fred was lounging in the back, biting his fingernails in boredom and moaning constantly,

"He's even a worse driver than Coral! Remember that day she knew your Dad would probably try and kill you, so she took us to the park for ice cream? She almost killed us turning those corners." Tony nodded in spite of himself, unhappily remembering his nanny. A few tears reached his eyes but he blinked rapidly, hoping to get rid of them. However, Fred kept bringing up yet more memories, so eventually Tony hissed under his breath,

"Shut _up _Fred, just _stop _it. I don't want to hear any more about Coral..." He paused as Gibbs swerved for a second before trying to regain his composure, making Tony go pale. Had his Boss heard him talking essentially to himself? His logical side broke through, and he reasoned that Gibbs wouldn't be taking him home simply because he'd smashed the room. Gibbs must know _something _- Tony was certain.

"Abby..." He grumbled quietly, before asking Gibbs outright,

"Erm, Boss... about at work, did Abby..."

"Later." Gibbs interrupted him, placing a calming hand on his shoulder, making him groan and slump down in his seat. His Boss obviously thought he was insane to break through that contact barrier and talk in such a calm and patient voice to him after seeing the mayhem at work.

"This is all your fault." He shot to Fred, not caring what Gibbs thought anymore, he was already convinced Tony was mad, so why not just cement that belief?

"What? I didn't do anything!" Fred defended, "I think this actually a good thing! If you want him to see you as a son then you're half-way there! I mean, he'd invited you to his house!"

"He didn't invite me, he _forced _me Fred, there's a difference." Gibbs stopped the car, willing himself to get to the house before saying anything. Now, as he got out the car he grabbed Tony's arm to stop him opening the back door for this 'friend' of his. Shaking his head at the younger man, Gibbs said quietly,

"There's no one there Tony." Tony blushed, but immediately flared up when he ran through that sentence again in his head,

"What do you mean? How do you know that I think... I mean, that there _is _someone... How - Abby talked to you, didn't she?" Gibbs nodded, and locked the door before dragging Tony by his wrist into his house. He could tell that he wanted to go back to his 'friend' who was presumably making quite a racket. Tony's eyes kept flickering back to the car and was growing paler by the second. As soon as they were safely inside, Gibbs took him by the arm and said,

"Abby told me that you wanted your urine testing for drugs. She also wanted me to tell you it's negative," Tony exhaled tiredly, as if he'd already resigned himself to that possibility, "You already thought that would be the case, right?" Gibbs probed.

Tony nodded, "How can a drug bring back your childhood imaginary friend? I mean, if he was real then, he would definitely be real now right? 'Cause I mean, if I believed he was there when I was smaller, then I should believe now..."

"You aren't making sense Tony." Gibbs said to him softly, before taking him into the kitchen and getting him to sit on a chair. Taking a seat to face the younger man, Gibbs pushed a hand through his hair and closed his eyes, before sighing and opening them again. Looking his agent straight in the eyes, he said,

"Explain it all DiNozzo, don't leave anything out." He gave that order, his voice ringing with authority, knowing Tony would have to obey. And he did. Talking until he was hoarse, he explained everything - Fred appearing when he was younger, his father, Coral, how Fred appeared now, how it was _Fred_ who trashed the room and how...

"Crap." Tony mumbled, Fred appearing with a small trunkle noise,

"Didya miss me Snotface?" He asked casually, plonking himself down on a chair next to Tony, "Can you believe that this idiot locked the door on me?" He jerked a thumb over at Gibbs, who guessed that Tony was seeing Fred by the way his eyes flickered around uncertainly, as though he was scared to have them in the same place for too long.

"You know what, I'm kinda hungry, how about you Boss?" Tony asked loudly, attempting to drown Fred out. Gibbs guessed this, and simply nodded, still staring at Tony uncertainly, "Great! How does pizza sound?" Tony said, his voice only one step below hysterical. In an attempt to calm him down, Gibbs put a hand on his shoulder again, and crooked a finger at him, making him follow the older man out of the kitchen ad towards the basement. Tony's eyes widened and he grabbed hold of the hand that had been on his shoulder, drawing his Boss back.

"No way Boss, we can't go down there!" His eyes were wide with desperation, making Gibbs do a double take, "Fred, he'll do something, even if it's small, he'll do something and mess your boat up, or... or - or set it on fire, trust me Boss, he's a menace..."

"He reminds me of you DiNozzo."

"I've been saying that for years," Fred assured Gibbs, before prodding Tony's back, "Come on, I want to see his boat!" Tony shook his head, and could see Gibbs frowning, only being able to see his supposedly sane senior field agent shaking his head and twitching forward before pushing himself back - as though someone was pushing him. Fred gave one more shove for luck and Tony found himself flying onto Gibbs, throwing himself into the older man's arms.

He tried to bite back a laugh with a snort, but before he knew what was happening, he was sobbing. He simply clutched at Gibbs's collar as though he couldn't let go and whispered (So Fred couldn't hear),

"Help me... Please, I can't listen to him anymore. He was good when I was small, but I don't need him anymore, I just can't..." Gibbs's parental gears shifted and in an instant he was rubbing circles on Tony's back and shushing him, whispering back,

"It'll be fine Tony, you'll see. I promise I'll help you son, you don't need to go through this alone."

"God he's so girly, he's as bad as that McGee..." Fred moaned, bored and a little proud that he'd managed to make his friend cry. His comment reached Tony's ears and he brought one arm back from round Gibbs and shoved his elbow backwards, shoving it straight into Fred's stomach. Gibbs felt the movement and pulled back slowly, glancing around, still not seeing what Tony was. Tony pulled back as well, embarrassed that he'd just cried on his Boss's shoulder and also that it looked like he'd thrown himself onto him deliberately.

"Tell you what - Ducky put me in touch with a psychiatrist, who's apparently great with this kind of thing." Tony's eyes widened,

"No way Boss, Coral tried that before. They just ask you some questions, give you a pitying look when you say you have an imaginary friend, pretend to talk to them and then pat you on the back and say you'll grow out of it. Once, some shrink asked me if I liked Fred, and I said yeah, and he told me I shouldn't. So Fred threw all of the books off his shelves and made me mail him a letter of the shrink being eaten by Fred. Needless to say, we weren't allowed back there." Gibbs raised an eyebrow,

"And this shrink thought it was you who tore all the books off the shelf."

"Yeah, it was like the whole office thing again. He'd gone out the room, and when he came back..." Gibbs nodded, and asked,

"Will you at least give this one a try?" Tony looked doubtful, so his Boss added, "Tony - do you trust me?" He immediately nodded, looking into his eyes with complete faith. Nodding in approval, Gibbs said,

"We'll go tomorrow. Did you say you were hungry?" Tony nodded happily, beaming as the subject changed to something less embarrassing or crazy.

"Pizza'd be really good right now." Gibbs nodded, and said,

"Do me a favor and stay here while I go and get it."

"You're not going to just call it in?"

"I've got a feeling this is going to be the kind of night that requires _a lot _of beer." Tony grinned in satisfaction and sat down in his sofa, giving Gibbs the kind of look that said he'd stay there as still as a statue until the older man's return.

--

However, during the course of that evening - while Gibbs was still out - Tony felt himself being drawn towards the basement. He'd found a magazine in the living room and was happily reading that, but what with Fred's pushing and the fact that it was getting too warm up here and he assumed it would be cooler down there, he eventually made his way down there.

"Ok Fred, you have to promise you won't touch the boat." Tony said to him, grabbing his arm to further emphasise his point. Fred bounced about happily, nodding and grinning,

"You can count on me Captain! This is brilliant! We can play pirates an all sorts!" However, his expression dimmed when he saw the boat, "This isn't a boat! This is barely a canoe! I was expecting a galleon!"

"How would that fit in a basement?" Tony asked, settling down on the stairs and opening the magazine again, but still keeping a close eye on Fred,

"Well look, this isn't even _finished _yet!" He drooped with disappointment, the bright green pirate outfit he was somehow wearing looking out of place in the dim room. Suddenly, he grinned again, "We should help him!" Tony dropped the magazine,

"No Fred, no way. Don't touch anything!" Fred put his arms by his sides,

"Sure sure, I'm just the first mate Captain!" He was silent for a few minutes, before saying, "Maybe I'll just change _that_ bit..."

"No! Fred!" Tony yelled, but it was too late. Fred had picked up a rather large hammer and tapped at the boat, as Tony looked on in horror,

"See?" He said, "I'm not doing anything bad. Mind you..." He paused, bringing the hammer up higher, "I do like those breaking noises!" In one small movement he brought the hammer crashing down, giving it enough force to make a hole in it. Tony's mouth fell open and he was aware of the fact that he couldn't actually talk, so deep was his shock. Fred grinned and 'hammered' some more, making the boat fall off its props. With a tremendous clatter it fell to the ground, breaking in several places as it did so.

"No problem," Fred said happily, "A little glue should fix those cracks. A small secret is that it works best if the glue's _hot..._"

--

Ten minutes later, Gibbs walked through the front door. He did a double-take as he set the pizza down on the counter, smelling wet, burnt wood.

"Tony?" He called, his eyes narrowing as he couldn't find Tony anywhere downstairs. However, after he called, he heard the sounds of footsteps running up stairs. Tony burst through the door from the basement with a harried look on his face.

"Boss!" He yelped in surprise, his eyes darting about nervously, "So you er... you got the pizza!" He went to go and demolish the food, but Gibbs pulled him back,

"What. Happened?" Gibbs asked, slowly and menacingly.

Tony looked down and mumbled something that sounded like, 'Don't go in the basement' So of course, Gibbs let him go and went over to the stairs, where Fred was stood,

"We improved it if anything." He comment, glancing at his nails with one hand in his pocket, looking as casual as can be. Tony whimpered as Gibbs climbed down the steps and silence could be heard as he reached the bottom. Glaring at Fred, who shot back a 'What, me?' look, Tony too entered the basement.

He groaned. It looked even worse than he thought it did. There, on the floor, was Gibbs's boat. It had holes and cracks in it, and one side had caved it. There was a burnt smell drifting through the air and Tony had to cough and wave an hand in front of his face to clear the smoke. The floor was wet and slippery where Tony and thrown water on it to try and quell the flames. It had worked, but now - he thought it would have been better if it had just burned to the ground.

"Funny story..." He started, trying to keep a confident air but his voice coming out wavery and stuttery. Before he knew it he was being grabbed by the scruff of his neck, and scrunched his eyes together, flinching as he was brought forward.

This made Gibbs freeze. He had been about to punch Tony and probably knock him out cold and give him concussion - but the look of pure terror on his face made him stop. He gently removed his hands from the collar of Tony's shirt and asked, quietly,

"Tony, tell me honestly - did you do this?" Tony shook his head quickly, as fast as he could,

"I swear to you Boss, it was Fred. He put a hole in the side and then tried to stick it back together with hot glue. The idiot didn't think, and I had to throw water on it to stop the whole house setting on fire." He bit his lip, knowing Gibbs wouldn't believe him - few people ever did. To his surprised and enormous relief, Gibbs just shook his head and mumbled,

"I don't really know what to think Tony, but I'll believe you. We'll sort this out tomorrow, go eat - I need to clean this up." Tony's eyes widened to the size of watermelons, but quickly fled the room, missing the huge sigh Gibbs gave as he started to pick up the charred bits of 'The Kelly' **(A/N I realise in Series 2 it hasn't been built to the standard where he's named it, but I figured he already had the name in mind)**.

--

"Go wait outside Tony." Gibbs said, sat inside the psychiatrist's office. Tony nodded morosely and got up, ignoring the smile the doctor offered. All he heard when he left was the doctor saying patronizingly, 'Shy little fella, huh?'.

Giving a small shudder at the man's cheek, he walked outside and sat down gingerly on one of the chairs in the waiting room. Fred sat down next to him saying,

"God, he was an ass wasn't he? Come on, we should leave, before they bring the strait-jacket out."

"I'll leave when I want to." Tony replied hotly, causing him to get a stare from another person sat next to him, who was obviously there for their child. Gazing around the office, Tony guessed that he was the only adult to be 'diagnosed' here. The rest of the patients were all children, who were playing with the various toys set out and talking to themselves. Settling himself down a bit more, reassured he wasn't the only one there who had an imaginary friend (Even if they were all children) he jumped as Fred suddenly screamed,

"Go To Hell Herman!"

"What?" Tony asked completely confused. Apparently, 'Go To Hell Herman' was another invisible friend of one of the kids here. Tony averted his eyes to where Fred was obviously talking to a huge group of invisible friends. He glanced uncomfortably down at his lap, until the door of the office opened and Gibbs stepped out. Tony looked up and heard,

"Have him take these whenever it gets too 'real' for him." Gibbs nodded and asked,

"Are there any side effects?"

The doctor shook his head, "It just neutralizes that part of the brain which is over-stimulated." Gibbs nodded and shook the doctor's hand before going over to Tony,

"Come on DiNozzo, I need more wood." Tony nodded guiltily and stood up, glancing over to where Fred was saying goodbye to - well, _nothing_. Is that what he looked like, he wondered? Talking to himself, arguing with the air?

"Well, I'll see you chickens later." Fred announced, before being pulled back by his arm,

"Fred," Herman said, his voice serious, "Don't let him take the green pills." Fred glanced over to the bottle in Gibbs's hands, which contained green pills,

"Why not?" He asked,

"Remember Johnny?" He asked, his voice mournful. Fred nodded and Herman pulled his thumb across his neck in a cutting gesture. Fred gulped, but chuckled slightly nervously,

"Hey, don't worry about me," He said, "I'm Drop Dead Fred. No pills are gonna make _me _go away."

**Oh contrare Fred-a-doodle :) Sooooo - review? xxx**


	6. Chapter 6

**So sorry about the delay :( I don't know when the other stories'll ever get updated, my Internet just _isn't _working. I'm having to borrow my father's computer :(**

"Gibbs I'm fine, seriously," Tony moaned as he spent yet another day confined to the spare room in Gibbs's house, "I'm not ill, just mad." Gibbs rolled his eyes at the younger man's statement.

"You're not _mad_ Tony, you're just..."

"What? Going through a rough patch? Have a bit of an over-active imagination?" Gibbs placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him and said,

"You want to take a tablet now?" Tony shook his head defiantly. Fred wasn't there at that point, so he didn't see the point of taking tablets that probably didn't work. He wasn't too good at taking tablets anyway. Not to mention painkillers. Painkillers were the worst. He went fuzzy after about 10 minutes and went into overdrive and started babbling god knows what. He also didn't really remember much afterward, just waking up in some random place with Ziva's sneering face over him. Shaking his head to get rid of the random thoughts circling through his head, he said,

"_Please _can we go into work? I'm seriously going crazy being cooped up in here." Gibbs rolled his eyes, but knew the younger man was right - he needed to get out.

"Okay, but bring your tablets, if you do _anything _to annoy Ziva, I am not in the mood to pick your spattered guts up off the floor. Got it?" Tony nodded eagerly, almost bouncing about in sheer delight at the thought of going outside. He grinned as he put his jacket on, not caring that it was pouring down outside. He was going _out_.

"Listen Tony, about the other day..." Fred began, twisting his fingers uncertainly, "I'm sorry if I got you into trouble..."

"You always get me into trouble." Tony muttered, fastening his jacket up, head bowed so Gibbs didn't see him talking.

"Not all the time," Fred argued, "Remember how I valiantly told the dragon that I smashed that pot instead of you?"

"But that _was _you," Tony said, "And it didn't do much good did it? No one else can see you. I look crazy stood here talking to myself."

"Nonsense! Let's forget about that and do something fun. First one to start the car wins!"

"No way." Tony answered, and unscrewed the lid of the pills,

"Wait... those are the 'Ccchrr' pills!" Fred said uneasily, miming the thumb across throat gesture. Looking suddenly frazzled, he said,

"Okay, this is getting serious. Come on, throw those away and we'll run away. Away from this horrible house, away from your stupid work. Just us. Like you promised, before."

"What?" Tony asked, a distant memory coming to him.

"You wrote me a letter." Tony nodded slowly, fingers trembling slightly as he started to unfasten his jacket.

**--Flashback--**

_"Anthony David DiNozzo!" Tony bit his lip as he saw his Father walking towards him. Fred had decided that his younger cousin's hair needed cutting, so he'd done it in the night. Right now they were all sat round the breakfast table, watching as Coral tried to even it out. _

_"What the hell were you thinking boy?" He yelled, grabbing Tony by his shoulders, "Connie has shown you nothing but kindness since staying here, and you hack at her hair in the middle of the night!" Tony started shaking and shook his head, _

_"It wasn't me!" He cried, trying to pull himself out of his Father's grasp, "Drop De..."_

_"If you say one more time_ _that 'Drop Dead Fred' did it I will take those scissors Coral's using and cut your throat to silence you. Do you understand?" Tony sniffed, tears falling from his eyes, "I said," His father repeated menacingly, "Do you understand?"_

_"Uh-uh." He murmured, looking down so he didn't need to look his father in the face. He gasped as a sudden pain struck the back of his head. DiNozzo Sr was tugging at some hair on the back of Tony's head viciously,_

_"Pardon?"_

_"Yes Sir." He whimpered pathetically. His father let him go and patted Connie on the head,_

_"Povero bambino, cara mia..." He shot an angry look over to Tony who sniffed again and seemed to wilt into his breakfast. The older man left the room, as did Connie (Who glared at him while leaving) and Coral, who went to clean up in the kitchen. This left Tony on his own, until Fred suddenly appeared,_

_"Who would have thought he'd get that angry?" He asked mildly, although still looking quite scared, "And what was all the Italian stuff about?" Tony shrugged and wiped at his eyes, _

_"He's just mad."_

_"Well don't you worry, when he comes back in here, we'll chop off his head!" Tony giggled,_

_"Then what?"_

_"Then we'll make him **eat **it!"_

_"Eat his own head?"_

_"Oh," Fred paused, "Well then **I'll** eat it!" Tony laughed,_

_"Then we'll make a mud pie with his **favourite **pieces of china!" Fred grinned, opening the window,_

_"Your wish is my command." With that, he jumped put the window. Tony stayed sat on the chair, his feet dangling precariously from the ground. Soon, Fred was back in the room - carrying a huge lump of fresh, damp mud. He dumped it on the table, and at first Tony went pale, knowing what his dad would say, but he soon got caught up in the moment and grinned as well,_

_"I think it needs something more." Fred decided, before picking up the jug of milk and pouring the white liquid all over the mud pie, thus pouring it all over the table and the china._

_"How about cornflakes?" Tony asked, tipping the box over the mud and giggling as the shower of flakes went all over the table. Fred watched proudly before saying,_

_"Before we chop his head off we'll make him eat this! We're not scared of him!" Tony nodded in agreement, before hearing his father's heavy footsteps approach the table. Immediately, Fred gulped and whispered, "Quick, hide!" Tony hastily opened the jack-in-the-box and held it wide open for Fred to jump in. He quickly closed it once his friend was hidden, but his wrist was caught when he went to hide it,_

_"You... You worthless piece of... my china!" Tony gazed up at his dad mourning his pots, before glancing down at the jack-on-the-box._

_"I'm sorry... it was Fred," He whispered, before getting the toy wrenched fearlessly from his hands, "No!!" He yelled, starting to cry, "Don't take him away from me!" DiNozzo Sr grinned victoriously,_

_"So this is where your little friend lives," He snarled, "Well I think I'll just seal this up and put it away. Then I'll deal with you..."_

_Tony could only gaze in horror as his only, true friend was sealed up, never allowed back out. Later that day, he sat in his room, writing a letter to Fred,_

_**"Dear Drop Dead Fred, you were my only friend, but he took you away from me. If you come back, I promise we'll run away together..."**_

**--Flashback End--**

"Remember?" Fred persisted, "You _promised _we'd run away." Tony nodded, glancing between Fred, the pills, Gibbs holding the door open expectantly, and shook his head,

"It was nice of you to let me stay here Boss, but I think I'm going back to my own apartment," His voice wavered slightly but he stared the older man down determinedly, "I don't need to be babysat, I can look after myself."

"Really? Is that why you need to take pills to stop you going off the rails?" Gibbs quipped, already wincing at the low blow. Tony's eyes dulled, and he dropped his gaze. Suddenly, he blurted out,

"Fred thinks you're like my father and you're trying to control me like he did." He said it so quickly that Gibbs blinked, unsure of what he said. However, what he caught he hoped he'd heard wrong,

"You... you think I'm trying to control you?"

"And..." He was urged on by Fred, "And hurt me..." Gibbs shook his stepped forward and cupped his agent's face,

"Tony, look at me. I would _never_ try and hurt you Tony, you understand? I don't know what Fred's saying, but he's wrong. Even when you destroyed my boat, did I raise a hand to you?" Tony shook his head, again tears threatening to fall. He blinked rapidly, having cried _way_ too much in front of his Boss over the last few days,

"Tell me you don't think I'm like your father?" Gibbs said softly, but Tony could hear the pleading within that statement,

"You're not like my dad..." He whispered. This was all Gibbs needed to hear,

"You still coming to work?" He asked, hand back on the door handle. Tony grinned and nodded, keeping a tight hold on the pot of pills as he walked out, trying to not even give a glance in Fred's direction.

--

"Tony!" He was almost pushed over when Abby ran up to him, squeezing him as hard as possible, "Are you ok? Gibbs told me he got you to go to the psychiatrist's." Tony nodded morosely,

"He gave me some pills. Condescending prick. He called me a 'Shy little guy'." Abby pulled a face,

"Urgh, he sounds like my music teacher at school. So have you taken any yet?" He shook his head,

"Apparantly I need to take them when it gets 'Too real'." She nodded, and squeezed his hand before saying,

"I need to get back to work." He nodded and smiled at her, before slowly walking to the bullpen. It was neater than it had been when he'd left before, but there was still tape over the plasma. He winced guiltily but sauntered over to his desk as though there was nothing wrong.

"Good morning Ziva." He grinned at her, causing her to roll her eyes,

"Is it Tony?" He dropped his grin and frowned uncertainly, glancing over to McGee for help,

"Er...I guess if you take the weather into account, then yeah..." Tony stuttered. Ziva glared at him, as McGee hissed over,

"She was stood up last night." Tony nodded. he knew there was nothing remotely funny about it, but had a really good retort ready in his head. However, Ziva glared menacingly over at him, but bent her head as Gibbs rounded the corner.

"We should do something, just to make her angry. And then that'll make Gibbs angry, which'll prove that he's like your father."

"I can't hear you." Tony said loudly, blushing as McGee and Ziva glanced over. To save him answering any awkward questions, he unscrewed the cap of his bottle and swallowed one of the pills. Fred cried out and dropped to his knees, curling his arms around his stomach, as if in pain. Tony's eyes flashed in shock but he ignored it, starting to typed slowly on his keyboard.

--

"Do it, do it, do it, do it..." Fred chanted, over and over, watching Tony scrunch up piece of paper after paper. He could tell the agent was dying to flick them over at McGee, and was doing all he could to assist him. Tony shook his head - he knew he was killing Fred with these tablets, but there was nothing he could do, he needed t get back to normal.

Taking another one, he saw Fred clutch at his head in pain, blue eyes staring into his own, as he stared down at the man, curled up on the floor after so many pills. In just one day he'd managed to take 5, which would have worried Gibbs, but he rang the psychiatrist who said it wasn't the kind of drug you could have a harmful overdose on.

Soon, there was only one pill left.

--

"Tony - no arguments, you're coming back with me again." Tony just nodded, too tired to argue. He had an awful headache from listening to Fred whine about how bad he felt, and wanted nothing more than to go to sleep.

Pulling up at Gibbs's house, Tony got out of the car and slammed the door as hard as he could. The sound vibrated around his already thumping head - and hearing Fred complain, he was sure it was going around his as well.

"Tony, you look shattered, go to bed. I'll bring you some water and painkillers." Gibbs said, oddly calm and gentle. Tony nodded, not surprised the older man knew what was wrong with him. Fred slouched after him, determined to make him see reason,

"Look, I don't know why I'm still here, if you think Gibbs is a good father figure. But I don't want to be killed just because you're boring now." He moaned, picking at loose threads at his jacket. Tony shook his head as he slowly got into bed,

"Fred, I know we've had all sorts of adventures together, and I really do like you, but you're not helping anything. I feel like I've gone out of my mind, I need to get you out of my life." With that, he rolled over, out like a light. Fred groaned and lay on the floor, clutching his stomach,

"Tony?"

"Oh it's you," Fred moaned, seeing Gibbs creep into the room, "Look, he's asleep, and tomorrow he'll take the last pill and finish me off. Happy?" Gibbs came closer to the bed and set the glass of water and tablets down on the bedside table, "Eurgh, look, Snotface is only going to be happy if you finally do your little heart-to-heart thing, and when you've done that, I can finally go. Just tell him what you feel. Like a girl." Fred scorned, but smiled when he saw Gibbs reach over the bed and pull the bed clothes up nearer to his chin.

"Listen Tony, I know you should really hear this in person - but you know better than anyone that when it comes to things like this I can't open up. I just want to say that, even though you're going through... this at the moment, I'll always be here for you. I know - well, Abby told me, but it's plain to see - that you see me as some sort of 'father figure'. To be honest I don't see why, but like I said - I'll always be here for you. If you want to talk about anything. Good night Son." With that he left theroom, not seeing that Tony's eyes were open, gleaming in the dark with happiness.

As he smiled, Fred started to glow, feeling the pain diminish. He stood up and went round to the other side of the bed,

"Guess you won't be killing me after all." He said, grinning. Tony smiled back tiredly,

"Guess not," Fred nodded and slowly started to disappear, "Look Fred I would never have _really _tried to kill you. You're closer to me than...well - I was going to say my brother but I don't _have _one."

"I know," Fred said, "How about we just say bye?" Tony nodded, feeling tears falling down his face,

"See you Fred," He mumbled, "It's been fun." Fred rolled his eyes but gave Tony a quick hug before disappearing completely,

"I guess so. And stop crying. You girl." Tony snorted as he faded from sight, not knowing Gibbs was stood by the doorway, smiling happily to see Tony finally break free from his past.

**Okay, corny ending, but they're the best kind lol ;) Thanks for all the reviews so far and for this last chapter :) As above, I don't know when I'll next be able to update, so bear with me :) Review? xxx**


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